COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

The Economic Response Plan is aimed at supporting local business, and the livelihoods of those most affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. Key policies include:

Wage subsidies to help ensure that employers have the ability to keep their staff on the payroll

Cash grants for businesses affected by COVID-19

A reduction in employer and employee CINSF contributions from 5% to 3%

A one-off welfare payment of $400 to eligible beneficiaries

An unemployment benefit to be provided to all individuals who have become unemployed due to COVID-19

School closure support payment of $100 per child for each fortnight that school holidays are extended

Details on each of the support mechanisms are available in the relevant factsheets. To receive the support, businesses must be registered with both CINSF and the Revenue Management Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, if you are not registered you have until 30 April 2020 to do so.

Applications for the wage subsidy and cash grants will open on the 1st April 2020. We appreciate your patience while the system is established to ensure that the payments are processed in a streamlined manner.

Please note that Fact Sheet 2: Business Support has been updated as of 1 April 2020 to reflect changes to the elegibility criteria for the Wage subsidy and Business cash grants measures.